


Flint and Steel

by poggywoggy



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: BAMF Niki | Nihachu, Niki | Nihachu-centric, Slight Canon Divergence, i just need niki to have her moment after burning the goddamn tree aight, set during the doomsday war, several other people are mentioned but those are the ones that actually speak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28879713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poggywoggy/pseuds/poggywoggy
Summary: This was it. Today, right now.The end of L'Manberg, of the country she once loved more deeply than anything else. As destruction rained form the sky and was spread on the ground below, her mind was made for her. She held into the flint and the steel like a life line.It had to be done. And if no one else would do it, she would.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	Flint and Steel

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so you know how everyone was freaking out about L'Mantree being burned? And then Niki said she did it and all she got was a well done from Techno and people glanced over it?  
> I have a deep need for Niki to have her moment, and if people won't listen to her in canon they will listen to her in fanon by god  
> Anyway please appreciate this fic of Niki getting at least a bit of the attention she deserves

All around her fire and destruction, a monument to months of fighting and dissonance and death, chaos, an organized anarchy of sorts. The screaming rang in her ears, distant yet so close, and as she looked down from where she stood atop a mountain seeing the war happening below she knew what had to be done.

The flint and steel were heavy on her hands. A tall tree stood before her, proud and long lived, the one connection in time this land had after all the infighting it had seen. She took a deep breath and set the spark that would bury the country she helped create once and for all.

She watched it burn, a mix of emotions in her chest, her face betraying nothing. She slowly raised her arm, saluting the burning tree, the closing of the casket happened long ago, this was merely its gravestone.

“It was never meant to be.” The third time this sentence was uttered by a traitor to the ideals of what was once her home. She turned around, and headed towards another place she once loved.

She entered her bakery, it had once been a sanctuary for her and others, yet it had lost all its meaning long ago, like most things in L’Manberg had. The same destruction that rained from above was planted in the building by its owner, the flint and steel that burned the tree now lighting the fuse.

She saw it all blow up and she hated how easy it was to do it, the relief she felt by destroying two things she had risked her life to maintain. It hurt to think how in a way she understood what Wilbur thought when he had pressed the button, why he did it. It was different, and yet it wasn’t.

The explosions had stopped by the time she returned to the crater where once a country stood, and she heard the cries of her once fellow countrymen, screaming at the enemy asking for the precious symbol they desperately protected so many times.

“I did it. I burned L’Mantree.” They all fell silent for a moment turning to look at her, shock and confusion clear in all of their faces except for one.

“Well done, Niki.” Technoblade’s voice carried the praise easily, honestly; his laugh ignoring the atmosphere Niki’s revelation had created.

“Thank you.” She felt a sense of pride at that, her actions had not been for anyone but herself, but there was something about the recognition that alleviated the wave of sadness that washed over her looking over the giant hole that extended in front of them. Despite everything, it had once been her home.

“Niki? Why, why would you do it, why burn the tree? Why?” Tommy’s voice was laced with distress and hurt, coming fast and high. “Why would you betray L’Manberg like this?”

“It wasn’t a betrayal Tommy, look at it-” She waved her arm, the smell of smoke and something rotten filling her lungs. “It doesn’t exist anymore, it hasn’t existed for a while now. The thing we fought for against Dream, it’s not here anymore.”

“We could have fixed it, we could have rebuilt it again!” Tommy’s distress had soured, he was angrier, louder, an edge to his voice often heard, but carrying the same weight as it always did. “Why burn it!?”

“It couldn’t be fixed. Rebuilding it from the ground wouldn’t solve the problems it created. We did that once and it solved nothing.” She felt all eyes on her, for once she had the stage, she was truly being heard. It was terrifying and exhilarating in equal measures. “Look what L’Manberg did to us, as much as I loved it, it made us something we were not. Ranboo was right, we were choosing the land over the people who lived in it. I refuse to do that anymore.”

“But-” Tubbo piped up from where he stood next to his best friend, hurt and resignation perfectly mixed, as if they’d been living in him since forever ago “you fought for it too, Niki, you knew what it meant to us.” 

“It meant everything to me too.” She felt her hand move on its own accord clutching at her heart, as if somehow it could make it stop hurting, could stop the sorrow that filled her up. She could feel her eyes burning, the smoke in the air making it harder to hold in her tears. “But look what it did to us. It didn’t unite us anymore, it kept dividing us, turning us against each other. Eret betrayed us, Wilbur went insane and tried to destroy it, and even you ended up choosing it over Tommy. How can we keep fighting for it?”

The silence that fell among them was only interrupted by the occasional distant explosions as Dream kept abusing the land, somehow making the destruction even more irreversible. Niki’s words weighed heavily on everyone who stayed, fellow L’Manberg citizens, some of them the original members who fought for its right to exist, others simply people who had recently started sharing its land. Technoblade and Philza had quietly taken their leave, basking in the knowledge of their well done job. And now it was just them.

“Well, what now then?” Fundy’s ears were pressed tightly to his head, betraying his otherwise emotionless face. 

“We still have each other. Like we did at the start.” Finally the explosions stopped, complete silence surrounding them. The calm after the storm, yet they still felt the weight of living through it, sadness and nostalgia and a certain serenity making their homes in their hearts.

They stood together for a bit, allowing the sun to set, watching the way the light now reflected on the crater that stood before them.

Quackity was the first to leave in silence, his hand gripping his axe until his knuckles were white, an unreadable look in his face. 

Fundy followed a moment later, saying a quiet goodbye, smiling at Niki briefly before his face fell again.

It was only the three of them now, Niki, Tubbo and Tommy all looking over a place they once deeply love. It felt reminiscent in a way, so much had changed since the three of them stood together like this. Niki wished it didn't feel different in a way, but it did and she knew it. She was now the reason L’Manberg would not be rebuilt, the one that laid the last stone in its grave, and she knew Tommy would blame her for it. And she was okay with it, it had to be done.

The silence stretched between them for a bit, the chill of the night lodging itself into their skin, the air slowly clearing of the stench left behind from the fire and the withers.

"Let's go, Tubbo.” Tommy turned, slowly walking in the direction of his old home. “We can probably bully Connor into leaving my house so we can sleep there.”

“I’ll be there in a second.” Tommy raised an eyebrow at him, Tubbo flashing him a reassuring smile. The other smiled briefly before continuing on his way, leaving Tubbo and Niki alone.

“I get why you did it, Niki. I really do.” She noticed how exhausted he sounded. And how young too. 17 was so young to bear so much responsibility. So was 19. Tubbo had crossed his arms over his chest, as if willing himself to not be torn apart, his next words sounded pained. “I still wish you hadn’t done it.” 

“Me too.” She willed herself to look forward, to imagine L’Mannberg standing there once again, as it did at the very beginning. “I don’t regret it. I would do it again and again, as many times as it took.”

“Yeah, I know. Good night.” And with that Tubbo left, leaving her standing alone.

Niki took a deep breath. She was exhausted like never before, as if the tiredness of all the months of wars and fighting and betrayal had caught up to her. It could be over now, but she doubted it would ever truly ever end. Too much had happened to be solved by one last war, one last doomsday. It would be fine, she told herself, like a mantra ringing through her head, again and again. This chapter was over. And it would be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> That's it  
> I feel like i didn't fuck up their characters too much (I hope dasjkd)  
> Again I just needed Niki to be allowed to have her moment, this was such a big deal to her character arc and I'll forever be salty it was glanced over. I hope I made it some justice.  
> Lemme know if you enjoyed this, I know its pretty short, but I don't think I had anything else to say. (also if i should add any more tags, I'm always nervous in relation to the ones i add)  
> Anyway thank you for reading and Stan Miss Niki Nihachu <3


End file.
